What You See, You Become (The 5 Senses Journey)

Becoming conscious of what you expose your senses to can dramatically change your health, according to a number of studies. (1-24)

A supportive, positive, non-violent environment—much like the one Ayurveda suggests—is something that we can create. Changing the desires of what we want to see, and longing for peace rather than violence is a choice we all have.

The desire to watch stimulating, violent, and thrilling content is just another example of the mind seeking satisfaction outside of itself. These over-stimulating, addictive, reward-based experiences are never more than temporary and always leave you wanting more.

According to Ayurveda, the sights, scents, noises and other things you expose yourself to have a lasting effect on what you think, how you act, who you become, and the state of your health. On an epigenetic scientific level, our behaviors, lifestyles, and environments influence how our genes will express themselves. (1)

What we see and take in visually is another form of nutrition and, just like food, we are what we eat, so we must be selective about the visual input we are feeding ourselves.

Violence, the Media, and Us

According to Ayurveda, being mindful about what you allow yourself to see is of crucial importance.

Watching violence, death and angry riots on the news can literally morph the microbes in the body to somehow think that these kinds of scenes are normal. (2-7)

If the visual exposure to violence is repeated regularly, a more permanent shift in the microbiome and the human genome can manifest and affect our health. (8,9)

For instance, studies have shown that exposure to TV programs, movies, and video games that portray violence decreases sensitivity in our brain activity. This blunted sensitivity may reduce our ability to link violence and aggression with consequences—potentially promoting violent and aggressive attitudes and behavior.

These media-based portrayals of violence are also linked to decreased levels of empathy, emotional reaction to violence, and prosocial behavior. (2-7

Interestingly, while violent video games were found to increase aggression and decrease prosocial outcomes, prosocial video games with positive messages actually increased prosocial effects. (10) This really does reinforce the claim, “We are what we see.”

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The implications of witnessing violence do not just apply to the media, such as TV programs, movies, or video games. Many people, on a daily basis, witness or experience violent behavior first-hand in their everyday lives. Science tells us that living in a violent environment can put us at higher risk for developing emotional and behavioral problems, as well as a propensity to experience more violence-based physical and emotional trauma. (11)

Young adults exposed to violence in the home they grew up in were found to have long-term negatively impacted self-esteem. (12)

There are many studies showing that soldiers who go to war and witness or participate in violence have significantly higher incidences of depression and PTSD. (13) Very sadly, in 2012, more U.S. troops died by suicide than in combat in Afghanistan. (14)

Violence and Physical Health

Experiencing visual violence has been linked with a host of negative physical health issues as well. One study found that subjects who played violent video games had significant increases in diastolic blood pressure, felt significantly less full with an increased appetite, and had a marked increase in craving sweets. (9)

Exposure to war violence has been linked to having negative effects on soldiers’ physical health, with pain, fatigue, sleep problems, and gastrointestinal disturbances being some of the most prevalent complaints

Higher exposure to war trauma, and witnessing violence in general, is linked with higher incidence of PTSD, psychological imbalances, and increased levels of physical health issues. (8,9,15)

In the same vein, journalists in the newsrooms who are regularly exposed to images of extreme violence as part of their job were shown to have increased propensity for PTSD, depression, and psychological distress as measured in the body and the body’s anxiety levels. (16)

PTSD has also been linked to poor self-reported health and increased morbidity. (17) If watching or witnessing violence is linked with PTSD, and PTSD is associated with increased morbidity, then violent visual stimuli are clearly not ingredients in the recipe for health and longevity.

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What We See, We Become

Science shows us that when we are entrained to look at images that affect us in emotionally positive ways, we tend to look significantly less at the negative images in our environment.

If you feed yourself positive visual stimuli, you tend to start seeing more of the positive and less of the negative images around you.

This isn’t to say that you would be immune from experiencing the full gamut (and sometimes violent realities) of our modern world, but your experience would be from the standpoint of a more positive mindset, which science shows can make all the difference in our health, vitality, and longevity. (18-23)

Today, there is more and more evidence suggesting that our bodies are able to thrive and live longer when we are in a loving, kind, environment in which we are supported by and engaged in, with positive emotions and a good attitude.

We are simply direct extensions of the world around us. (18-24)

As is our current cultural trend, if we continue to consume regular and daily dosages of extreme violence via visual exposure, the microbes epigenetically regulating our genome could begin to express more of the negative genetic susceptibilities, and our health and longevity can be impacted.

To a certain extent, we all have a choice as to what we expose ourselves to visually—the TV shows and news we watch, movies we go see, video games we play and how we choose to recreate.

Making an effort to be in nature, see beautiful things, and watch positive and uplifting movies can change your microbes, your genes, and your quality of life. This ancient wisdom of living a sattvic, uplifting and loving lifestyle is now backed by science!

Comments

It totally makes sense, in the past, anyone who said praying makes the water holy, would be consider a crack head, fortunately, the Japanese proved that music changes the structure of water! so seeing also makes sense!

Agreed. I am thankful I didn’t grow up watching violent movies or playing violent video games. It is interesting to notice as an adult that most of my peers are pretty desensitized to it and I am the opposite; I just cannot watch it and don’t if I can help it. I still try to stay informed about the news of course, but that doesn’t require seeing a bunch of graphic content. I didn’t grow up around violence either thankfully.

I think it all depends on likes and dislikes, so we need to learn and listen to ourselves what we truly like and dislike and how things affect us. For some people a rollercoaster ride can be a very positive and uplifting experience, creating all these good hormones in the body. For some people it is the opposite, it is scary and negative and the body creates stress hormones.

Same with movies and video games. For some people if violence in the movies, series or games, it is uplifting, a fun perspective it is all these cool special effects. For other people a movie with a love story can be very boring and a negative experience.

Video games can have a lot of positive effects as well, even if some violence, it all depends knowing yourself and choose wisely.

Myself I was watching the series Dare Devil on Netflix, and it has lots of violence at times. But I noticed I could watch it from another point of perspective, to appreciate the choerography in the fighting scenes, the special effects, and that death is merely an illusion.

Even the Vedic literature such as the Mahabharata has violence, it is pervaded by relentless violence. Apart from the main war, which is described in gory detail, there are many other battles.

The key is to meditate and do yoga and realize who really are, and know ourselves what we like and dislike.

I believe meditation and sports, and/or yoga such as Bikram Yoga is a great combination. Meditation makes us listen to ourselves, but it can make us a bit sensitive if we don’t engage the body in physical activity.

This is good reading:

“According to research cited by Vice, not only do violent games help users skirt violent behavior, but the games can actually have beneficial effects. A study conducted in 2014, at Stetson University in Florida, shows that the playing of death-bloated video-games actually caused real-life violence to decrease. Vice speculates that the pixelated mayhem gives “gamers an outlet for their aggression, or [keeps] potentially violent people safely at home.”

Games loaded with action-oriented sequences can even enhance motor skills. Steady playing of “Unreal Tournament,” a first-person shooter game, has, according to researchers at New York University in Shanghai, led to speedier reactions during road tests on driving simulation software.

And, if you fear that buying games for your juvenile relative will turn him into a solitary delinquent, John Velez, a researcher at Texas Tech University, allays those worries. In 2015, according to Vice, he found that war games enhance social skills. Velez has concluded that team-play games of this ilk — such as Halo and TimeSplitters — led participants to treat each other, whether teammates or opponents, with surprisingly high degrees of decency.”

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* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website are based upon the opinions of John Douillard. They are not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional, and they are not intended as medical advice. They are intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of John Douillard and his community. John Douillard encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.